Four dead in Masai Mara, Kenya tourist plane crash

A plane carrying mostly tourists crashed in Kenya's Masai Mara national park Wednesday, according to news reports, killing up to four people.

Two German tourists and two Kenyan pilots died, local police chief Peterson Maelo told Reuters.

An AFP report said there were four American survivors, but this could not be confirmed.


Maelo said one of the dead tourists, an elderly woman, died first while the other, a middle-aged man, succumbed to his injuries later.

The aircraft was carrying between 12 and 14 people, the BBC reported.

Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reported that six passengers on board the light aircraft, belonging to Mombasa Air, were seriously injured as the pilots prepared to land at Ngerede Airstrip near the Mara Safari Club.

It quoted airstrip manager Daniel Jivai saying the plan wobbled before it came down at around 12:17 p.m. local time (4:17 a.m. ET).

“When we saw it coming down, there was a swift response from hotel personnel, tourists, and other visitors around the place and we managed to put off a small fire on one of the engines," said Jivai.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

Discuss this post

to die on vacation...so sad

    Reply#1 - Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:25 PM EDT

    a crash in the massai mara with those wild animals is scary

      Reply#2 - Thu Aug 23, 2012 6:29 PM EDT
      You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
      As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.